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Patterns of Flowering Phenology in Communities, Populations, Individuals, and Single Flowers

  • Chapter
The Population Structure of Vegetation

Part of the book series: Handbook of Vegetation Science ((HAVS,volume 3))

Abstract

The flowering phenology of vegetation is examined at four successively finer levels of organization. First, communities are contrasted for their gross differences in flowering patterns. The difficulties of singling out the main environmental factor controlling these patterns is pointed out. Second, the theories which attempt to explain the flowering sequence of each species within a community (competition for pollinators, correlations between flowering and fruiting times, and physiological ecology) are reviewed in relation to methods for testing the validity of these theories. Third, the extent of individual variation in flowering time within species is considered, in order to determine the potential for natural selection to adjust the flowering time of a population. And fourth, the longevity of individual flowers is reviewed, since the individual flower is the basic unit of all flowering patterns. The review emphasizes the need to develop theories which can, be statistically tested using data from either tagged individual plants in natural conditions or experimentally manipulated individuals.

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  1. Richard B. Primack
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  1. Department of Botany, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland

    J. White

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Primack, R.B. (1985). Patterns of Flowering Phenology in Communities, Populations, Individuals, and Single Flowers. In: White, J. (eds) The Population Structure of Vegetation. Handbook of Vegetation Science, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5500-4_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5500-4_24

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